Our School Motto
Dear Parents/guardians,
As we reach the end of another school year, it is time to take a deep breath, time to pause, time to reflect and time to recall the success of the past academic year. In the relatively new way of life, dominated by technology, the world wide web, social media, mobile phones, text messages and emails, our minds are seldom at rest. I want to thank you all on behalf of our pupils, staff and governing body for demonstrating your faith in us to teach our learners to be the very best that they can be. Scrolling through this newsletter gives you a snapshot of the exciting and extensive learning experiences that our pupils are immersed in; every day there is something new. Our unique setting provides us with the most amazing resources to start and inspire a thousand stories.
We wish our year 6 learners every success at the start of their new adventures . We look forward to them returning to inspire our younger pupils and share stories in the next step of their education journey.
It is often said that as you get older, you feel like time speeds up and this year feels like it has passed in a flash! One of the best parts of working in education are the milestones, successes and celebrations which punctate the year and often follow the calendar. This year has been no exception and there have been many highlights which I hope that pupils will treasure: Year four camping trip, sports day, our summer fete, Llangrannog, Bala, Year two wedding, the end of year plays, rugby success; to name but a few.
I would like to congratulate all of our pupils who took part in our end of year plays for years 1-6. It takes a lot of hard work and courage to stand on stage and I thought that all pupils were excellent!
Have a wonderful summer break and I look forward to welcoming pupils back in September,
Mr. Williams.
Arrangements for September
- We return to school on Tuesday 3rd September.
- Before we return, I will write to parents with updates and information about the academic year including all of our inset days.
Well Done Miss Jones
Behind the scenes Miss Jones has been working hard and on Monday she celebrated her graduation in Masters in Educational Practice.
A Masters in Education is huge amount of work and a huge achievement. Miss Jones completed all of this work in her personal time. Miss Jones focused her masters on empathy and developing vocabulary and she has used the learning that she has gained to continue to improve her teaching and her understanding of education.
Early Years
The Early Years class has had an action-packed two terms since January. Our topic 'Ticket to Ride' allowed us to learn all about where we live and how we get to school. However, our learning journey took an unexpected turn when a baby elephant escaped from Manor Park and visited our area! We even received a special gift from our new elephant friend.
To learn more about our new furry friend, we adopted a baby elephant from Botswana and compared our habitats. We discovered the importance of caring for one another and understanding our differences, just like Elmer.
Next, we transformed into deck scrubbing pirates, exploring the history of piracy in Pembrokeshire, and visiting Broadhaven Beach to search for hidden treasure. We wrote stories and created rules for life on board, counted and sorted our loot, and learned all about teamwork.
Our final topic, 'Down at the bottom of the garden', has allowed us to explore our outdoor area like never before. We've been on bug hunts, discovered fascinating facts, and immersed ourselves in the wonders of nature. The highlight of this topic was watching our caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies, which we then released to continue their life cycle.
Year One
Class 1 have had such a busy year! They have been learning about keeping healthy during the Superhero topic, about dinosaurs and fossils, and how toys have changed over the decades.
The children have loved roasting marshmallows at the fire pit and learning about the plants and wildlife that can be found in a woodland. They have been responsible for planting bulbs and sowing wildflower seeds, watering them and watching them grow. They have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in health and wellbeing activities such as the Ogi fun run and the activities run by our Sports Senedd group. We launched our topic about animals with a trip to Manor Wildlife Park to see all the beautiful creatures they have. Finally ending the year with their wonderful, summer performance of 'The Bee Musical' with the year 2 pupils.
Year Two
What a busy year we have had. From discovering an Enormous Turnip to adventures with Florence Nightingale, fire breathing dragons to bushcraft, making apple-juice to wedding celebrations and finally a buzzy-bee production. It has been a year filled with exciting learning, laughter and love. Diolch Year 2, you have been a delight!
Year Three
Year Three have had a fantastic year! We started the year using our detective skills to work out which giant had come into our school as part of the launch of our Myths & Legends topic. We were inspired by mythical characters from Wales to write our own 'defeating the monster' myths and told these stories to each other around the fire pit as we feasted on s’mores.
We had great fun learning about Celtic daily life, from building a roundhouse to grinding flour to bake bread over an open fire in Castell Henllys. In Flow we learnt about the River Cleddau and how it shapes our county – we even made our own working rivers. We showcased all our learning about the Celts and The Cleddau in our display for our whole school museum.
Earth Day inspired us to write our own letters to our planet, telling Earth about all the wonderful creatures and places we have learnt about this year from the journey of The River Cleddau through Pembrokeshire to life on the tundra of The Arctic. We found out how climate change is affecting life in The Arctic.
We had great fun developing our thinking and enterprise skills working with The Bumbles of Honeywood. We made towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows and certainly worked hard as a team to problem solve! These tasks led us to think about what being strong really means. We ended the year with our topic ‘Don’t Stop, Never Give Up’. As part of this topic we collaborated with Year 4 to create our very own awards ceremony, The JAFTAS where we celebrated different strengths of real and fictional people who have inspired us. We were able to develop our performance skills in drama and singing and are very proud of our production!
Year Four
This year in Class 4 has been fantastic, filled with engaging lessons and unforgettable experiences. We delved into fascinating topics like the Digestive System, Tudors, Age of Princes, Ocean and Pollution, and the incredible journey of Ernest Shackleton. Each subject sparked our curiosity and deepened our understanding of the world. Our learning extended beyond the classroom with exciting trips to Carew Castle and a memorable day exploring the Preseli Hills. We even had an adventure camping out in the school meadow, fostering teamwork and resilience. The highlight of the year was our spirited performance of "Don't Stop Never Give Up," showcasing our creativity and enthusiasm. It has truly been a year to remember!
Year Five
I have absolutely loved my time since joining Johnston School. Pupils have worked so hard this year they should be very proud of their achievements. During the autumn term we enjoyed learning about Evacuation and Refugees before exploring World War Two. During the spring term we were learning about all things Welsh history before exploring more about our impact on the planet.
A personal highlight for me was taking pupils to Llangrannog. It was my first time taking children on a residential and I enjoyed every minute! Pupils were a credit to the school with extemporary behaviour throughout!
Year Six
Year 6 have enjoyed a range of learning experiences to finish their Johnston CP School journey. We began the year with Humanities based topics, learning about: the Suffragettes and the fight for equal voting rights; change makers such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and the Rights of the Child. In January, we were learning all about what makes Wales a vibrant and healthy country. We explored key events in modern Welsh history, including the flooding of Capel Celyn and the birth of the Senedd. We visited Cardiff for a 1 night residential trip to explore the capital! In the Spring, we learned about Global Warming and Climate Change and how people, plants, animals and places are affected. The children particularly enjoyed learning about conservation after we read Last by Nicola Davies. In the summer term, we spent 4 days at Glan-Llyn, surrounded by mountains and taking part in so many different activities! The highlights had to be the time spent on the lake. Later in the summer, the children enjoyed our topic of Romeo and Juliet, ending with our evening performance. The children have enjoyed their last week of school with their friends, celebrating with a leaver's ceremony and class party!
LRC One
Wow what a busy year it has been in LRC1. Our topics have included ‘What’s in the box?’, ‘In my House’, ‘Down the Farm’, ‘Amazing Africa’ , ‘Pembrokeshire produce’ and ‘Dear Zoo’. The children have enjoyed hands on learning about the different topics and have shown Awe and Wonder when trying new things for the first time.
We have had lots of furry visits to the unit much to the delight of many of our pupils who have shown curiosity, patience and kindness. These have included lambs, chickens, a tortoise, puppies, giant rabbits and a sausage dog called Bo who the children all adore.
We have had lots of visitors in and out of the unit and the children have shown resilience to meeting new people. We have had 4 new starters who have all just settled in so well and have been welcomed by all the pupils to our little LRC family. The children have all truly amazed me with how hard they try with their learning, overcoming things that are tricky and becoming more and more independent in do things themselves with a little less support.
All the children have excelled in our outdoor learning and love Welly Wednesday where they have experienced cooking outdoors at the firepit and in the roundhouse, planting pumpkins in our raised beds (they are huge), listening to stories in the big oak chair in the sensory garden, looking for frogs in the stream, searching for insects and running freely through the long grass in the meadow. This is a favourite place for us to be.
We all enjoyed a wonderful trip to Folly Farm funded by the Rotary Club of Milford Haven; parents joined us and our inclusion ambassadors from year 6 Eva and Ella who have been kind enough to give up all their breaks and lunchtimes to support our pupils and the children all adore them! Thankyou girls
The year has been filled with lots of fun, water, sand , paint, and other messiness!! Our favourite thing to do!! GET MESSY
LRC Two
We've had another fantastic year in LRC2! We have learned about lots of different topics this year - rainforests, Wales & France and potions to name a few! We have loved spending time in the school meadow, the roundhouse and in the woods/stream during our Welly Wednesday sessions and have enjoyed a few lovely trips out too; we took part in Boccia & cricket festivals and we also had a brilliant day at Folly Farm! We are looking forward to more exciting moments next year.